The 7-inch, 1280 x 800 display on the Fire HD is fantastic. The IPS, LCD screen looks better than probably any other tablet display I've seen, save for the new iPad. While the pixel density is the same for both the Nexus 7 and the Fire HD (216 compared to the iPad's 264), the Fire blows away the Nexus in terms of color richness, black levels, and general brightness. It definitely looks more like an Apple-quality display, and it's clear the company put a lot of effort into making an impression here.

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From a standpoint of horsepower, the Fire HD seems more than capable at handling pretty much anything you throw at it (or at least, anything that's available in the Amazon Appstore). Games like Dead Space and Angry Birds played with no slowdown or lag, lists scrolled quickly and smoothly, and books and magazines didn't hesitate when the pages were turned. Movies streamed solidly in HD, and music playing worked without a hiccup in the background. As I said, however, there are software issues which I believe are unrelated to the actual CPU performance of the device.

With its superb display, superior speakers and improved performance, the $199 Kindle Fire HD is easily one of the best 7-inch tablets available. And, thanks to Amazon's vast library of movies, music, books and magazines -- and the new X-Ray functionality -- this slate is in fact the best choice for consuming content on the go.

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Is the Fire HD better than the Nexus 7? Not quite, in our book, but it also depends on what you're looking for. Android fans will undoubtedly gravitate toward Google's device as it offers a greater selection of apps, a more familiar interface and innovative features, such as Google Now and offline voice typing. The Nexus 7 also exhibits less lag in everyday use and has a smaller physical footprint. However, the Fire HD has a brighter screen, better sound and double the amount of standard storage, strengths that complement Amazon's superiority when it comes to discovering and purchasing content. That's where the Fire HD excels.

The big addition here is Amazon's Immersion Reading service. Now, when you purchase a textual book that's also offered in Audible format you'll be given the option of adding the voice narration for a few bucks more. When these two mediums combine you can play the narration while you read the text and the word being spoken will be highlighted on the tablet as it's said.

This is an experience that's said to increase reading comprehension, but more importantly, it means you can pick up right where you left off -- whether you left off listening in the car or reading in bed. That's thanks to Whispersync for Voice, which is currently rolling out to Audible's various mobile apps. With that you can listen on any supported device and have your current position follow you wherever you are. We tried this with the recently updated Android app and it worked perfectly

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you're probably wondering how this stacks up against the $199 Google Nexus 7. When we reviewed that, we called it the best $200 tablet you can buy and now, a few months later, we still think that's true. But it's close. Really close. For the same money the Fire HD gives you twice the storage, proper stereo speakers, HDMI output and better WiFi performance. Plus, there's an amazing wealth of premium content always at your fingertips -- you'll never want for something to watch, read or listen to.

But, we'd still take the Nexus 7. All that content can't make up for the distinctly limited offerings in Amazon's Appstore, most notably the first-party Google apps.

Hm, so the short answer seems to be the Kindle Fire HD is good, but the Nexus 7 is still a touch better? Unless of course one is a devout user of Amazon's services.

Or reads the xda-developers or Rootzwiki websites. With Android, you can always find a way to fix those things. The question is, do you want to go through all that trouble. Might be worth it for the 8.9" HD WiFi only.

I pre-ordered the Fire HD 7" over the Nexus 7 because I'm a Prime member and want to take advantage of what Amazon has to offer.

I really like the Nexus 7 but the bottom line is that the Nexus 7 is the exact same thing as my phone, with a bigger screen and no "phone". Any app or function or cool thing I want on the Nexus 7 I can do with my phone.

The Fire HD will give me access to Amazon's Instant video, which the Nexus and my phone don't. Oh, and double the storage for the same price is nice too...along with the stereo speakers.

The reading experience on the new Kindle Fire HD is far better than on the original. The pixels are tighter, making for a near-"Retina" display, where you can't see the dots. If you, like me, read on a tablet at night (ideally with white text on a black background), you will appreciate the HD's ability to turn the dimmer way down low, so that your eyes feel less strain in the dark. And the screen's contrast is higher while glare is reduced. You're not going to love it in the bright light of a summer day, but in most situations, words are easier to enjoy.

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Looking at all of the Fire HD's software, though, I don't get a sense of the design language, like I do on Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows Phone products. Nor can I tell exactly how ambitious Amazon is about breeding first-party software, like Apple does. Yes, there's email and calendar, but when I went to jot down some notes, I couldn't find a way to do it. Even the included (but third-party) OfficeSuite app proved no use, despite its name.
Maybe a 7-inch tablet isn't really for doing stuff, it's just for consuming media. An honest notion. But what happens when the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD comes out? More physically resembling an iPad, it will have a harder time justifying its lack of activity.

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But what if — and I'm just spitballing here — what if Apple puts out an 8-inch iPad for $249? Then you'd get basically the same content — and a whole lot more — on a slightly larger screen, for $50 more. (And you'd be able to try it out in an Apple store before you bought it.)

iPad mini at $249? Maybe.
I'm thinking $349, myself.
We'll see if Apple is up for some price-based competition in hardware soon enough.

I'm waiting to see if the iPad mini is attractively priced to compete with other 7" tablets.

That is indeed the key question for me.
I'm thinking of getting a "hardcover-class" color reader to supplement my "paperback-class" portable eink readers.

With Amazon pricing FireHD7 at $199 and $FireHD9 at $299, the "obvious" competitive move for Apple would be to price their 8" iPad at $249.
But Apple is above doing the obvious or responding to the rabble that thinks can compete with them.

More seriously, they like to price their entry-level products relatively high in order to nudge consumers to stretch their budget and go for the mid-range version once they start thinking Apple. It's good marketing strategy. But that strategy says $349 for the mini.

Which makes the pricing of the mini (if it really exists) a good indicator of how seriously Apple takes Amazon in the tablet space. (How *they* review it internally.)

Ahem, I'm waiting for the FireHD hands-on reviews before making a decision, anyway.
I think the 9in 10x6 form factor will fit *my* needs a bit better than the 7inchers.
To be honest, the 7incher looks a tad generic, much like the Nexus.

i like my samsung galaxy s 3 and i have a samsung galaxy tab (1st gen) samsungs problem isnt that they have bad devices its they have
62 varieties of android smartphones in last 3years (we arent even counting all the feature phones and windows phones or all the new one in develpoment.

in a 1.8 year period samsung has released three 7 inch tablets, one 7.7 inch tablet, one 8.9 inch tablet, three 10.1 inch tablets. how can a company have 8 lines of product in a 2 year period and inspire any sort of confidence in a product. at least with the telephone samsung is starting to smart up and there arent 60 versions of the galaxy s 3 with minor tweeks. untill samsung picks 3 tablet sizes and really promotes and gets behind them PLUS start pusing thier media and book hubs more they wont have a chance.

the other disadvantage is android & google. i love all the android goodness on my phone but on tablets there are almost NO tablet optimized apps at all they are just phone apps lazily blown up to fit tablets. frankly thats where the ipad has a HUGE advantage with thier 200,000 tablet optimized untill google comes with a real incentive for developers to actually make tablet apps android tablets like my wifes wonderfull asus transformer 300 and keyboard, and my samsung galaxy tab will be distant afterthoughts since currently android tablets is all about the hardware with little/no content made for them. the 7 incher tabs sell best on android because they can make the blown up phone ui and apps look ok but you REALLY see the difference on the larger 9 and 10 inch android tablets.